China defiant over Liu Xiaobo after wife's emotional plea

China has refused to back down over Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Peace Prize winner
jailed by Beijing, a day after his wife spoke out from under house arrest
for the first time in two years in an emotional interview.

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Liu Xia, wife of 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, reacts emotionally to an unexpected visit by journalists at her home in Beijing, ChinaPhoto: AP

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Mo Yan demonstrates Chinese calligraphy for students during a visit to Hersby Gymnasium high school in Lidingo, sweden today. He evaded questions about his countryman Mr Liu.
Photo: AP

2:51PM GMT 07 Dec 2012

Mr Liu was branded a convicted criminal by a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman at a news conference in Stockholm yesterday, held to laud another Chinese writer who is also set to receive a Nobel in a few days time.

Mo Yan, this year's winner of the prize for literature and who is vice president of the Communist Party-backed writers' association, evaded questions about his countryman Mr Liu at the conference.

Mr Mo asked journalists not to press him on the topic, although he has previously said he hopes Mr Liu will be freed soon.

Asked whether the Chinese government instructed Mr Mo not to talk about Mr Liu, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said: "I want to point out that Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to imprisonment by China's judicial authorities for violating laws."

When asked at a daily news briefing, Mr Hong said he did not know about the fate of Liu Xia, the wife of Liu Xiaobo, who has been held under house arrest for two years following her husband's Nobel win.

"I am not aware of what you mentioned, but I want to point out that the legitimate rights of citizens are protected by the rule of law," he said.

China was furious when the Norway-based Nobel committee awarded the peace prize to Mr Liu, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009 for co-authoring a bold call for ending China's single-party rule and enacting democratic rules.

Norway is still suffering from the fall-out, having been the only European country left off a list of countries whose citizens will be allowed to visit Beijing for 72 hours without visas starting on Jan. 1.

In the emotional interview which ensued, a tearful Mrs Liu said she no longer keeps track of the days.

"We live in such an absurd place," she said. "It is so absurd. I felt I was a person emotionally prepared to respond to the consequences of Liu Xiaobo winning the prize.

"But after he won the prize, I really never imagined that after he won, I would not be able to leave my home. This is too absurd. I think Kafka could not have written anything more absurd and unbelievable than this," she said.